Teachers Pay Teachers Tips, Polar Bear Fun, + Giveaway!!

Happy Saturday Friends,

Raise your hand if your Winter Break ends in 2 days?!?! {Hands up here!}

Sigh...I have enjoyed every minute of my Winter Break. Just being stress free has been rejuvenating for me!

I do miss my kiddos though & can't wait to see their smiling faces on Monday!

Today I wanted to talk about something that I have seen many discussions on lately...Teachers Pay Teachers feedback. This is not a vent, per se...JMO.

I have seen and heard a lot lately that people who browse Teachers Pay Teachers are positively commenting on paid products and freebies, but then docking the creator on the rating. Has this happened personally to me? Yes.

If you haven't created a product, you may be unaware of this, but many of us spend hours and days creating our products. I know on a full unit, I spend at least a week creating it. It takes a lot of time to set everything up on a page, go over & over it, purchase clip art (out of our own pocket), and organize our ideas. If you purchase a product, then yes, you have every right to analyze it the way you want to; however, please keep in mind, that we aren't creating the product solely for you. We are creating it for a general audience, so you may need to tweak the ideas to suit the needs of your classroom.

My thoughts...If you aren't happy with a product...contact the seller first before leaving feedback. I have had the honor of getting to know many bloggers/ TPT sellers throughout this blogging experience and I haven't come across any sellers that wouldn't help you if you are unsatisfied with your purchase. I leave my contact information in every product and in the description of every product that I sell. Contact the seller- chances are they WILL help you! :)

Keep in mind before leaving feedback:

1. How much time did this product save me from planning and creating this for your own classroom when giving it a rating? 

2. All Teachers Pay Teachers strive to maintain the best rating possible (4.0)! If the product is a good product, don't be so critical. Think about what your rating might do to their future sales on that product if you bring it down from a 4.0 (especially if it doesn't have many ratings on the product yet). Think about the hours that person spent creating that product, because it's not a situation where we snap our fingers, hit publish, and post it on TPT. Like I said earlier, we spend days & weeks on our products. It is so disheartening when I create a product that I have poured my heart into & the rating gets docked without explanation or even with a positive comment.  If you have suggestions, contact the seller first. If there is a mistake or two, contact the seller first. It will get fixed! Remember, we are all human and sometimes mistakes happen. :) 

With that being said, if it's a really horrible, poor quality product (because I'm sure that there are a few sellers out there who just try to make money & do not consider quality), then you have every right to rate it as you wish.

3. Freebies are a gift from the creator. Be generous in your rating. If the freebie isn't downright horrible, then don't dock the rating of the freebie. That's not very nice and if this keeps happening, do you think creators are going to be inclined to keep providing freebies to the TPT audience if they feel unappreciated?

This is just my opinion friends! Thanks for listening!

Speaking of units, I just finished my Palling Around With Polar Bears Unit!! 

This is very similar to the Plenty of Penguins unit that I just created. It has several thinking maps, writing pages, Polar Bear Fact Keeper Journal, facts craftivity, and much more.

Click HERE to see it in my TPT store!

**I also have this bundled with my Penguins unit, if you want both. It is $1.50 cheaper purchasing it as a bundle then if you purchase the 2 of them separately. Click HERE to check it out!!

*** I am giving away 2 of these units!! Enter in rafflecopter below and I will pick 2 winners on Tuesday January 8th! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have a wonderful weekend!!